Need Advice For Packaged Home Alarm Purchase

I'm looking for advice for a packaged home alarm system. Would like advice for vendors, what I need to buy and what to avoid and advice on how to deak with vendors, eg what I nned to ask them and specify in a contract.

Thanks

Mike

Reply to
Mike
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Start lookin' here.

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Feel free to ask questions. Most here don't have an "agenda" but sometimes you gotta dig for those diamonds... :-)

Reply to
Frank Olson

You as the buyer will most likely not be specifying anything in a contract.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Is there anything I should look out for in a contract?

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Thanks, will do.

Mi8ke

Reply to
Mike

There are a couple of things to watch out for; however, first you have to understand how contracts are used in our industry. Long term contracts add a measure of equity for the alarm company should they decide to sell their accounts to someone else, so most companies will lock you in for the longest term acceptable in your local market. They also allow the company to advertise lower up front costs by amortizing part of the price of the equipment in the monthly monitoring costs. All other things being equal, the shortest contract term possible is generally the best way to buy for the shopping consumer, since a long term contract will limit your ability to shop elsewhere if your providers service deteriorates or you should decide to move to a new premises etc (or for any number of other legitimate reasons why you might no longer need the alarm monitored). With few exceptions, long term contracts do nothing for you the consumer !!

That being said, regardless of the length of the term, try to avoid signing a long term contract that has an automatic renewal term that is in excess of a year. Read the fine print; some contracts will dictate that the original renewal term will automatically be in force once again if they don't receive written notice from you the consumer that you don't want to renew , some times as much as three months in advance of the renewal date. The other clause is a "cost of living" increase clause which allows the company to annually raise the monthly amount, leaving you few options should you object.

Remember, a contract is a legal document and you may well be held to it after you sign it, so read and understand what you are signing. Always calculate your total five year costs up front when comparing quotations from various companies, including warranty and service costs which often don't show up in their original quotes. Remember, there is no such thing as a "free system"; you pay the piper up front, or as part of the ongoing monthly costs !!

There is more information on my website on pages entitled, "how to shop", "contracts", and "faq"

Good luck...

R.H.Campbell Home Security Metal Products Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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Reply to
R.H.Campbell

Initial term of the contract should be something reasonable..2-3 years is common...anything more as an initial term is kinda ridiculous. Most contracts auto-renew yearly on the anniversary date of the signing, this usually tied to your procedure on canceling monitoring should you decide to cancel after the initial term...read what the notification time is...usually

30 days prior. Some states have restricitons on auto-renewal clauses.

What is their policy if you move before the initial term is expired?

Read the fine print. Do you own all of the equipment once you have paid them for the installation - not completion of the initial term of the contract? Make sure what you are buying is not actually a hidden leased system.

Is the equipment proprietary? < Stay away from this, because if you're not happy and you cancel and the equipment is proprietary like one big alarmco's is...you endup throwing it away.

However, all that being said..you are really buying a relationship. Do you like the guy? Did you get good recommendations from other people? Do they seem like a company you can deal with?

BTW, contacts don't have to be inforced. I let people slide all the time...sometimes you have to, sometimes it just the right thing to do (not enforce a clause) to keep a client happy. I DO enforce contracts when someone hasn't paid me for a zillion months - thats fair I should think :-)

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Reply to
Crash Gordon

Much thanks for your useful information. I wouldn't have considered many of the items you mentiuoned in your post. I'm starting to feel like an informed consumer. I attempted to contact a local installer who installed a wired system, Solmon's Shield(sp?) for a neighbor, but he sold out to one of the large security companies. I then Called Brink's Security who told me I should buy their motion sensor system with door alarms for $300.00 + and a $28.xx monthly fee. My house is a end of group rowhouse with a walk out basement. I don't believe the motion sensor is going to cut it. I believe I need alarms in the basement and on the second floor.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Thanks for you very helpful post. I learned a lot about contracts.. Will check out you website.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Learned a lot reading/browsing you website. Too bad you're not located in the midatlantic region, US.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Brinks uses proprietary equipment, you might want to double think that choice.

Personally I'd go with a smaller company...one where your money is literally putting bread on the owner's table...much more likely to get better service. Unless, of course, the owner is a grouchy old fart like me:-)

| > What is their policy if you move before the initial term is expired? | >

| > Read the fine print. Do you own all of the equipment once you have paid | > them | > for the installation - not completion of the initial term of the contract? | > Make sure what you are buying is not actually a hidden leased system. | >

| > Is the equipment proprietary? < Stay away from this, because if you're not | > happy and you cancel and the equipment is proprietary like one big | > alarmco's | > is...you endup throwing it away. | >

| > However, all that being said..you are really buying a relationship. Do you | > like the guy? Did you get good recommendations from other people? Do they | > seem like a company you can deal with? | >

| > BTW, contacts don't have to be inforced. I let people slide all the | > time...sometimes you have to, sometimes it just the right thing to do (not | > enforce a clause) to keep a client happy. I DO enforce contracts when | > someone hasn't paid me for a zillion months - thats fair I should think | > :-) | >

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Reply to
Crash Gordon

I'd like to get a list of local companies from satisified users. will check to see what my neighbors have.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Good Mike...glad you did ! That's why I put it up there! It rubs some in the industry the wrong way, but the idea was to say it like it is (or at least the way I see it after 12 years in the business ).

Good luck in your shopping.....

RHC

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Reply to
R.H.Campbell

RHC, if every business had a website like yours there would be lot of satisfied enlightened consumers out there.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Correct. Allow me to elaborate on what Crash said. By using proprietary equipment Brinks makes it impossible for you to ever switch to a different provider when (not if) you become disgusted with their service and angry over excessive charges for routine service.

Not only can you not have the Brinks system monitored by anyone other than Brinks. No one can repair it when (not if) it breaks down.

Lastly, and this is something the Brinks salesmen almost never tell anyone during the con... er, sales call, when you decide to stop paying for monitoring Brinks will not allow you to change the system to a local only (non-monitored) system. If you don't keep paying for it from now until Jesus comes back, you're totally jiminexed.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I guess it's fair to say a couple of things at the risk of perhaps appearing to blow my own horn !! Firstly, not everybody in our industry would agree with a lot of what I say; in fact, many take strong exception to parts of it since some flys in the face of standard industry practices. However, that's ok too, since the site was geared towards the consumers perspective, and not the industry's perspective. I figure our industry can look after itself; it's the buying consumer that could use a little help !

Second, in any industry on any product or service, far too many websites only give potential clients little more than an advertisement that says "call me for more information", and sometimes not even a basic idea of their pricing. Consumers today are literally bombarded with one sided information which basically screams "buy me, buy me", and they tend to get very jaded. I believe most companies could gain a real toehold over their competition if they simply put themselves in the consumer's shoes and give them the information they need and want in order to make an informed decision. It's one thing to "put your best foot forward" in your presentation; it's quite another to do so without giving the potential client ALL the facts (even when they don't show you necessarily in the best light.....).

I must admit, I do get a great deal of business locally from this site. I honestly never intended it to be a sales tool at all, but it has turned out that way unexpectedly, and especially more so as it has evolved over the years to include my detailed pricing. Like everything in business should, it has turned out to be a "win win" situation for me (and I'd like to think, for those customers that come to me off the site).

I appreciate your kind words, and I hope the information put you in a better position to make the best choice FOR YOU !!

Cheers and good luck whoever you eventually decide to deal with !!

RHC

Reply to
R.H.Campbell

Try calling three 'local' alarm companies that make their everyday living on security. You may find that you can get better service and maybe someone who knows what they are really doing.

I got feedback recently from a new customer that called the "B" company and the "S" company. One didn't even look around, and the other was nasty! I hope they keep it up. I get more work with this type of competition.

Reply to
holger

This is turning into a frustrating experience. I'm learning a lot about what I need to buy and what to avoid. However, besides the A, B and S companies I don't know who to call. This evening I was talking to a friend who bought the Slomon Shield system. After reviewing the contract she states she bought the equipment (hard wired windows, doors, panic pad in the bedroom, etc) out front and signed a contract for twelve months monitoring at $60.00 per quarter. The guy who installed it sold out to Security Associates, Hunt Vally, MD. Any recomendations for security companies in the central Maryland area?

Mike

Reply to
Mike

Actually Mike, what you have here in Mr Campbell, is one of two people in this group who have decided to pick apart the industry that they're in, by telling half truths or giving incomplete information, in order to generate sales for themselves with total and compelete disregard for anyone else in the industry. There's always that few who will, at any cost, try to appear as the "white knight" to people, for some obscure reason. Most here in this group have grown quite tired of having to constantly contradict what these two say and do, to make themselves "stand out" from the crowd. To be fair, some of what Mr Campbell says has value but he apparently just feel compelled to take it that one step further, to make the rest of the industry and their competition seem as if they're cheating the public. Both of these people have repeatedly referred to "other" dealers as cheats, liars, crooks, unethical, and so on ....... without any explanation or separation, simply because they practice capitalism. That is ...... they're seeking the best ways to provide customers with the services they require, while they make as much profit as the market will bear. Competition is competition, and surely, anyone is free to run their business in any manner they choose in order to succeed. Where the unprofessionalism comes into the issue, is when accusations of unpricipaled motives of their competition becomes one of their selling tools.

Take the issure of contracts that you seem to think you understand but only because you've only heard one side of the story. If you'll look back in this thread, you'll find that someone had mentioned a reason that alarm companies will seek long term contracts ....... but I'll take a guess that you didn't totaly pick up on the true meaning and effect of it.

The fact is, that the revenue that is received from contracts by alarm companies is the greatest part of the value of the company. Alarm companies can get loans against the contracts to further their business. They, can sell the contracts for fairly nice sums, should they require revene to expand or if they decide to retire. And surely the profit allows them to cultivate their business to foster growth by offering lower prices for installations. Whereas, typically most other types of home improvement companys can only claim work in progress income and "good will", as the value of their company. Does an agreement do anything for the end user? Well is should, but certainly it's important for you to read it and make sure. The one most important thing my agreements do, is to hold the price of monitoring for my clients, for the term of the agreement. But turning over lockout codes, warrantees, and saying what both my clients and I will and wont be responsible for, are valuable to both parties.

In Mr Campbells case, he only gives his clients a month to month contract. So in effect, he could raise his price at any time. Also, he has no equity value in his company whatsoever. In the realm of the alarm installation and monitoring industy, his company is worth zilch and he can only offer and sell it to someone that he "knows" will buy it for "top dollar" ..... he says. We kind of believe here, that we'll believe it when we see it, as the starting standard in the industry, for any investor or purchaser of an alarm company is ........ how many contracts and what are their terms. How else could a prospective purchaser buy accounts without any "paper" to assure a long term return on his investement?

Another factor in Mr Campbells decision to follow this path, is that he's already got a healthy income from other sources, so that building equity in *HIS* company isn't important to him. These are also the same reasons why he can afford to give free lifetime service and parts. I mean certainly, we'd all like to be in Mr Campbells position to not have to run our business in the most profitable and equitable way ...... and we'd certainly like to be one of the benefactors of his policy ...... his customers. However, I doubt that many would use it as an avenue to depreciate all other alarm companies. Obviously, he's free to use his good fortune to his advantage but ...... again, belittling other alarm companys under the guise of being a champion of truth justice and the American way, is rather ...... shall we say ..... less than honorable. But, I guess, with out a full explanation, it's nice to appear have the attributes of Abe Lincoln, St George the Dragon Slayer, Mr Clean, and the White Knight, all in one ...... to people such as yourself.

In effect, from the point of view of 99.9 % of other alarm companies, what Mr Campbell is doing, is giving away a little piece of his company, to every client he aquires. And without any explanation to people like you, he espouses his no contract policy, as being the high road and portrays all others, who seek long term contracts, as out to bilk the public.

In reality, you will find out that as you do your due diligence search, you most assuredly will not find anyone that will offer you less than a one year agreement. You SHOULD, read the agreements closely. Ownership of the equipment, renewal terms, limitations and requirements; leasing versus purchase. Lock out codes being provided should you cancel upon temination of the agreements ...... and more ...... are all legitimate concerns you should be aware of.

So you see, things are not always as they appear.

By the way, beware of someone who doesn't offer you ANY agreement. Minimally, the agreements protect the alarm companies from being sued by you or your insurance company, should you suffer a loss. Alarm systems detect ..... they don't "protect" ........ in spite of what your insurance company thinks. Just because you have an alarm system doesn't mean you wont suffer a loss. Alarm companys are not insurers and are not liable for your losses .

Reply to
Jim

As I said, there are those who don't agree with what I say, some quite strongly. This can also reflect itself in an obsession in continuing the status quo, since it assuredly is in their own best interests to do so. However, pay no mind to this; shop for the best deal for you. Monthly contracts have significant value and equity in spite of what this poster indicates, and there are quite a number of companies who deal this way, albeit perhaps harder to find in the market. Nor should you as the customer ever have to sign a long term contract that doesn't do anything for YOU if it is not in YOUR best interests!!

However, far more important is that you find a reliable dealer who can give you a total overall package which first and foremost provides you a comprehensive security package at a price you want to pay - with or without a long term committment on your part !

Good luck again.....

RHC

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Reply to
R.H.Campbell

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